Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Glenn Le Santo

Rain falls to dampen final Supersport qualifying

In the middle of the final World Supersport timed qualifying session of the season, the track was eerily quiet, with just a handful of riders out on the wet circuit. Rain had fallen heavily before the start, and many riders weren’t prepared to risk a crash, especially as the forecast is for a dry race.

Fabien Foret, who leads the title chase by 17 points, didn’t even ride a single lap, “That was easy for me,” he laughed, “but I didn¹t want to take any risks.

Ten Kate Honda team instead sent out Paul Young, who is riding an identical CBR600 in the Van Zon Honda TKR team out to work on a wet set up. It was a good plan, Young was fastest in the session!

The weather means the grid for the race on Sunday was decided by Friday’s times, handing Foret his sixth pole position of the season. That means the Frenchman has been on pole for 50% of the races!

Katusaki Fujiwara, the only rider with any chance of beating Foret to the title, also sat the session out, leaving his teammate Stephane Chambon to sort out a wet setting. He will have to finish first or second in the race to stand any chance of winning the title, any lower and Foret doesn’t even need to score points to clinch it.



World Supersport qualifying times (from Friday’s dry session):

1. Fabien Foret, Honda CBR600, 1:53.376
2. Katsuaki Fujiwara, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:53.500
3. Chris Vermeulen, Honda CBR600, 1:53.652
4. Andrew Pitt, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:53.729
5. Stéphane Chambon, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:54.105
6. Giovanni Bussei, Ducati 748R, 1:54.154
7. Alessio Corradi, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:54.171
8. Paolo Casoli, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:54.243
9. Iain MacPherson, Honda CBR600, 1:54.657
10. Robert Ulm, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:54.866
11. Jörg Teuchert, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:54.889
12. Piergiorgio Bontempi, Ducati 748R, 1:54.907
13. Antonio Carlacci, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:55.143
14. James Whitham, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:55.289
15. Stefano Cruciani, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:55.503
16. Karl Muggeridge, Honda CBR600, 1:55.737
17. Paul Young, Honda CBR600, 1:55.835
18. Gianluca Nannelli, Ducati 748R, 1:55.899
19. Christian Kellner, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:55.962
20. Christophe Cogan, Honda CBR600, 1:55.986
21. James Ellison, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1:56.296
22. Matthieu Lagrive, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:56.744
23. Robert Frost, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:57.164
24. Michael Laverty, Honda CBR600, 1:57.232
25. Claudio Cipriani, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:57.284
26. Juri Proietto, Honda CBR600, 1:57.748
27. Laurent Brian, Honda CBR600, 1:58.074
28. Lorenzo Segoni, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:58.129


More, from a press release issued by Ten Kate Honda:

Foret takes it easy as rain falls

Fabien Foret, who leads the World Supersport title chase by 17 points, decided to sit out a wet qualifying session, safe in the knowledge that he already had pole position wrapped up.

“That was easy for me,” he laughed. “I didn’t want to take any risks. The race is what really matters, and I will do my best but also I plan to take it easy and not take unnecessary risks.”

The Ten Kate Honda team sent out Paul Young, who is riding an identical CBR600 in the Van Zon Honda TKR team out to work on a wet set up. It was a good plan because Young was fastest in the session!

The weather means the grid for the race on Sunday was decided by Friday’s times, handing Foret his sixth pole position of the season. The flying
Frenchman has been on pole for 50% of the races!

“It’s an incredible achievement and it illustrates just what a talent Fabien is,” commented Team manager, Ronald Ten Kate. “Obviously the pressure is on us because we are leading the championship going into the last round. But we have handled it well and kept our cool. All we can do now is race.”

Iain MacPherson also only rode for a handful of laps, “It was very slippery and not really worth taking any risks,” commented the Scot, “there was no way I was going to be able to improve on my grid position so we called it a day. I’d prefer it to be dry in the race, but if it¹s wet then at least it’s the same for all of us. But whatever the weather is, we are confident because the Pirelli tyres work well in the wet or dry and the WP Suspension guys have worked really hard with us to get everything perfect.”

With a World Championship hanging in the balance, all eyes will be on Fabien Foret and the Ten Kate Honda team on Sunday.